Happiness is...

... a walk along the river at night. Today is supposedly the most depressing day of the year but I beg to differ. I'm just home after a lovely evening of talking cults, social movements, the tyranny of online life (erm...), and political gossip with D. In a marked departure from our usual line in dire bars, we went to one of the nicer hotel restaurants in town, Refettorio (forgive the pretentious name) at the Crowne Plaza hotel near Blackfriars. Being vaguely sensible for a Monday night, we said goodbye in enough time for me to meander home via a windswept walk along the river.

After all my recent London restlessness, it's refreshed me, and now, like the loser I am, I'm feeling rather soppy about the place. The lights of the southbank looked so pretty; the wheel has switched from its standard blue light mode and is doing all sorts of crazy things; and I crossed the river at Westminster so that I could do my favourite part of the walk, accompanied by some old-skool Pixies, on the south side opposite the houses of parliament. It's the one time that I forgive tourists for standing in the way of my power walking - man, if I 'd had a camera with me I'd be taking pictures too.

So now I'm home, putting off the packing up I'm supposed to be doing in advance of the arrival of the builders tomorrow morning... one of these days I'll live somewhere else, but right now - it's all about London...

Love is all around me

When I started writing this blog, I wasn't quite thirty, and I wasn't quite a homeowner, I didn't have a man and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. Today has rather challenged the whole name of this blog, being my 30th birthday etc, but hey, it's all about a mindset, right? Oh and I suppose I've owned a flat for a few months too, but frankly the big questions that really matter are yet to be answered. Hunting for men and meaning look set to continue for some time yet.

But I'm really fine with that. I've had such a lovely day, full of love, affection, friendship and warmth that I feel quite overwhelmed by it all. I am incredibly lucky and today has been all about realising that and savouring the feeling. Which I did in various places, with various lovely people. Beyond the medium of text (oh to have a phone with some proper memory so I could store messages) and FB, these places included Leon, which, joy of joys, gives FREE wifi access. Now there's a place I'll buy coffee. In fact I'm due back there tomorrow morning, this time the Carnaby Street branch, with my mad and lovely mother at some unfeasibly early hour. Another feature of today was Joe Allen's, which I just love, especially seeing the pleasure in my father's face when he realised you really *can* order the hamburger, even though it's not on the menu... We'll perhaps gloss over the Thistle hotel in Victoria, where I spent two hours hatching plans. Despite the plotting, which was enormous fun, it's really not a place I can recommend.

Anyway. For those of you who have suggested the name of this blog is now out of date: I was thirty at 12.01pm today, and therefore (if I'm being pedantic) I remain notquitethirty... and besides, no one's yet come up with a better name...

Bowling: leave it alone

Tonight I found myself at possibly the most bizarre work party I've ever been to. It was at the bowling alley just opposite the Institute of Education, aka the not-cool bowling venue of Bloomsbury, as opposed to this (god, I don't even LIKE bowling, how can I know about two places in such a small part of London??). One of those parties where it was completely impossible to work out who the hell everyone was, or why they were there - clearly something everyone was feeling, given the amount of looking-over-shoulders going on.

So I beat a swift exit with Mr Innovation Guru D, only to find ourselves holed up in the equally dire bar of Bonnington's hotel. I learnt two things there: one, that 'NU' stands for Newcastle in football terms (1 all in penalties, gripping, obviously); and two, more interestingly, that the dreadful bar we were in is in fact a historical site, being the place that Wilson's 'Bonnington group' dreamt up a series of catchphrases including 'the white heat of technology'.

I, however, will remember it most for being the place that I finally decided that I'm done with local govt. Time to draft the resignation letter, I think. And to celebrate that I'm drinking far too much wine tonight, and planning to fail to get up tomorrow to get to work on time. Hah. Feel very excited and free.

Stolen moments

Today I found myself speaking at the most BORING conference in the world. Ever. Finished my slot at 2.30pm and just couldn't face politely hanging around for coffee, so I disappeared back into the world, and discovered to my delight that I was of course of Berners Street, and therefore very near the Sanderson hotel. A quick time calculation later (next meeting at 4.30pm) I found myself in there with a coffee fantasising about being the kind of person who (a) has amazing clothes (b) gets her hair cut at Vidal Sasson every 6 weeks and (c) is perfectly poised, even when no-one's looking. Lovely. The Sanderson is good, very good. I intend to return for cocktails, asap.

Even I struggled to spin an americano out for two hours, so I also had time (well, technically, clearly I should have been doing something else but hey) to check out the new M&S on Oxford Street. Their refurbishment is now complete and slightly bizarrely they decided to celebrate their re-launch by posting a woman on stilts at the entrance (not cool) and providing free rickshaws to and from the store (more cool). However - they have done a good job. Whatever you think about M&S, you can't fault their bras or sandwiches. So I bought one of each, and got to my next meeting happy and rather pleased with myself for reclaiming my day.

Savoy there!

Now this is something that really can't be missed: the Savoy is about to have a huge facelift, and before shutting for 18 months it's holding an auction to flog some of the current interior. They're putting nearly 3000 little bits of swanky London history under the hammer - from beds to ashtrays to hatstands - between the 18th and 20th December. Never has there been a better excuse for taking a day off work. Viewings are on 16th and 17th December, and to get into that you need to buy a catalogue (£33). Call 020 7468 8200, or do everything you need to do online at Bonhams.

B&B Belgravia

OK, so I've been recommending this place to everyone for about a million years and have been known to escape there myself when I can't take the heat any more. It's great, despite the fact I could never afford the shops round there (nor would I particularly want to) - huge rooms, good showers, delicious sheets, great breakfasts and - hurrah hurrah - all that for under 100 quid.

The Zetter

A converted Victorian warehouse in Shoreditch that has recently turned into a boutique hotel. All very eco too. Hot water bottles, music library, movies, restaurant and nice bar too. Plus wicked beds. Doubles from £150. which isn't bad for london. 020 7324 4444.